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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Researching the end-of-life in old age
— cultural, ethical and methodological issues | | Author(s) | Liz Lloyd, Kate White, Eileen Sutton |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 31, part 3, April 2011 |
| Pages | pp 386-407 |
| Source | http://www.journals.cambridge.org/aso |
| Keywords | Ageing process ; Dying ; Research ; Cross cultural surveys ; Methodology ; Social ethics. |
| Annotation | Third of four articles that together make up a special issue on research methodology and ageing. This article looks at how increased life expectancy coupled with the rise in chronic disease has had a significant impact on dying trajectories in old age. This poses ethical and methodological challenges for researchers, not least because it is often difficult to establish whether an older person is dying from, as opposed to living with, one or more diseases. This article reports a comprehensive literature review of empirical research on the end-of-life in old age. It presents two inter-related themes by first exploring the social and cultural contexts of death and then critically analysing the methods and ethical approaches adopted by researchers. Material was drawn from both cross-cultural studies and studies in which cultural factors were of prime interest, and were selected with a view to investigating the concept of a good death in old age. First, the article examines the evidence of cultural similarities and differences and the impact of social and cultural change on ideas concerning a good death. It then identifies contemporary influences and pressures on end-of-life care for older people. Finally, the article explores the significance of communication and the roles of families and service providers in this arena. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-110505004 A |
| Classmark | BG: CX: 3A: 3KA: 3D: TQ |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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